Simplest Internet Business Models for Beginners

The simplest internet business models are often the most lucrative for beginners to internet home businesses. As with any other type of businesses, it pays to start with the basics. Only after the basics become second nature is it time to move to more complicated methods of making money online.

It's very easy for those just setting out to make an income online to become totally overwhelmed with the amount of information available. Some say blogging is the way to go, while others push affiliate marketing with advertising campaigns, and yet others try to sell automated "push-buton" software that makes you money while you sleep. (Do I even need to comment on that last one...?)

The truth is that some internet business models are better for the experienced, while others form a much better starting point for the novice. The goal of a business model for a beginner is to teach the foundation of the craft in a way that will enable him or her to progress to more advanced techniques in a stable manner.

Learning to make money on the internet is similar to learning the art of investing. Most novice investors would not be presumptuous enough to think they could start out making a lot of income by day trading, or using any other advanced and risky financial strategy that they know nothing about. Beginning investors start with something safe and easy like mutual funds. As they learn more, they venture into trading stocks, and so on.

Making money online is no different. Trying to use advanced internet marketing strategies before you know the basics is a recipe for disaster.

I believe the best place for beginners to start is the combination of three internet business models: niche websites, online affiliate marketing and AdSense income.

A niche website, also known as a content-rich website, is simply a site about a narrowly focused topic. It can be about anything--hairstyles, golf, ethnic cooking, children's games, etc. The author provides lots of information on the topic that readers find valuable.

One of the reasons this is great for beginners is that they start out working on something that they love. Writing is a huge part of making money online, and if you're not writing about a topic you find interesting, it can be miserable! Niche website development allows that personal spark of interest, while providing gentle training in the arts of internet business, such as search engine optimization (SEO) techniques.

Ideally, the website development should be done with software that enforces good SEO practices. This provides the essential, repetitive training needed to ensure the most critical component of a successful internet business: search engine traffic.

With a niche website, monetization comes after the basics of article writing and SEO. While most new internet marketers start with a product to sell, then find that they have no one to sell it to (no traffic), niche website owners find that they have a steadily increasing flow of visitors that value the information they provide.

At that point, it's not too difficult to incorporate a few simple internet business models like online affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is basically selling a product on commission. Whenever a sale is made through your special affiliate link, you get a portion of the sales price. Your only job is convincing your visitors to buy the product.

Even easier is the use of Google ads for AdSense income. You add code to your web pages that allows Google to place ads related to your topic. When your visitors click on an ad, you get money! Most clicks are not going to make you rich--you're really looking to make money from volume, which you get from having lots of visitors and lots of pages of ads. But, since you've already built your niche website with pages of search engine optimized content, that's not a problem!

If you're new to the internet business world, I know all the glowing testimonials for sales products that promise to make you a millionaire overnight can be hard to resist. But, just like you wouldn't cash in all your savings and head to Wall Street to make great deals on stock trades, you shouldn't try to run down the information highway until you learn to walk!

Building a niche website with easily added monetization strategies can be the best choice of internet business models for beginners, and, in the long run, can put you miles ahead of those who tried to take a shortcut.